Tess Bateman
(full list) |series=18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 31 |born= |occupation=Emergency nurse practitioner (2003-05) Clinical nurse manager (2005-15) Band 7 senior sister (2011-15) Retired (2015-) |spouse=Mike Bateman (ex-husband) |children=Sam Bateman Saskia |grandchildren=Charlie Bateman}} Tess Bateman (born 22 January 1967) is a senior staff nurse who worked at the Emergency Department of Holby City Hospital from 2003 to 2015. She joined the ED in September 2003 as the department's new emergency nurse practitioner, and took up the role of clinical nurse manager in 2005. She left the department in August 2015 after almost 12 years of working there, and was one of the longest serving staff members. Tess joined the department in her mid-30s, having a range of nursing experience from previous hospitals. She was married with two children, but in 2006 her husband of 20 years filed for divorce. This was something which deeply affected both her work and personal life. By this time, Tess had taken up the role of clinical nurse manager, something which she wasn't willing to let go of easily. In 2013, her short lived romance with staff nurse Adrian Fletcher began to make her question her career, and she considered resigning. At the end of 2014, she stepped down from the post of clinical nurse manager and was replaced by Rita Freeman the following January. She left the department around 7 months later to assist her son who had recently become a father. Early life Tess was born in January 1967. As a third generation Jamaican, brought up in Cardiff, Tess is a traditionalist; if there's a rule book then she's swallowed it. She may be viewed as a kill-joy and inflexible, but her heart is in the right place - rules are there for a reason: the well-being and safety of the ED and its staff. She married Mike Bateman when she was in her late teens in 1986. Time in the Emergency Department (2003-15) Tess joined the department in 2003 as the ED's new emergency nurse practitioner. On her first shift, a major train crash occurred which required the best efforts of the medical teams and fire services. Among the firemen assisting at the scene was Tess' husband Mike. She was left waiting anxiously for a response from him, but wasn't convinced when he called her and confessed that he felt responsible as the fire chief for the death of some of his colleagues. Mike was later blamed for the incident by a structural engineer, (CAS: "End of the Line - Part One") and the following week he informed Tess that he'd been suspended from his job. (CAS: "End of the Line - Part Two") In September 2008, Tess treated a young girl named Sammy, from Holby's Farmed Estate. When Sammy went missing, Tess tracked her down at her home address, but in the chase Sammy led her on, Tess tripped by a derelict site's rubble and was impaled through the abdomen on a rebar. Sammy took a video of Tess suffering, but whilst trying to escape the scene was hit by an ambulance which Dixie was driving when she ran into the road. (CAS: "Farmead Menace - Part One") It was only later that day that the team discovered the footage and came to Tess' rescue. (CAS: "Farmead Menace - Part Two") In August 2015 just a week before Zoe and Max's wedding, Tess made the hard decision to leave the department, as her son had gone to visit her with his child and told her he needed her help. As he lived in Leeds, Tess decided to move there to support him in bringing up his baby who he'd named Charlie. After her shift had ended, she spoke to Charlie and told him that she'd be leaving. He initially tried to convince her to stay, but later admitted that they'd do anything for their children. The following week on the day before the wedding, Tess video called Zoe to congratulate her and apologised for not being there. (CAS: "Knock Knock Who's There?") Although Tess had planned for Zoe's hen night to be a quiet meal, the other members of staff had other plans which resulted in them going to a busy club. Charlie's anniversary (2016) In August 2016, Tess made a video message to Charlie, congratulating him on his 30 years in the department. She praised Charlie for being a good friend a colleague over the years. (CAS: "Too Old for This Shift") Personal life Tess got married to Mike Bateman in 1986, with whom she had two children; Sam and Saskia. Mike filed for divorce from Tess in 2006 after 20 years of marriage, something which deeply affected her. Following the divorce, she remained focused on her career and position in the department. In 2013, she entered a secretive relationship with Adrian Fletcher, a senior staff nurse who worked in the ED. Fletch was married during their affair, and after Tess became pregnant and decided to abort it, they broke up. The following year during the train derailment that Tess was involved in, Fletch went to the scene to rescue her. When his wife Natalie saw him on the news at the scene, she realised that he had the affair with Tess. This ultimately resulted in him leaving the department. (CAS: "Falling - Part Two") In 2015, Tess discovered that she'd become a grandmother when her son Sam arrived at the ED with his son Charlie. (CAS: "Knock Knock Who's There?") Trivia *She was devastated when Mike, her husband of 20 years, filed for divorce. *Loves spending time with her family. *Has a son called Sam, who has Bipolar Disorder. *Was there for Charlie when he faced a difficult decision about whether to assist in Megan's suicide. *She resigned as clinical nurse manager when she was made the scapegoat over the death of a little boy, but she was later reinstated. *Before moving to support her son in 2016, her address in Holby was 17 Byron Drive, which is located on the Silverton Estate. (CAS: "The Memory of Water") Behind the scenes Suzanne Packer portrayed Tess Bateman on Casualty from 2003 to 2015. She returned for a guest appearance for the 30th anniversary episode in 2016 at the start of series 31. Appearances :See also: Character appearances and Category:Tess centric. Tess made her first appearance on Casualty in the series 18 episode "End of the Line - Part One" and her final appearance as a series regular in the series 29 episode "Forsaking All Others - Part One". References Category:Characters Category:Past characters Category:Female characters Category:Nurses Category:clinical nurse managers Category:2003 arrivals Category:2015 departures